X-COM is one of the most beloved games in all of PC strategy games. A new book by Shack's David L. Craddock promises to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the making of UFO Defense, Laser Squad, Chaos, and other strategy games by designer Julian Gollop.

The X-COM Files: How Alien Invaders, Rebel Squads, and Gooey Blobs Took Strategy Gaming by Storm will be available on Kindle in October, with "other platforms" coming afterwards.

Craddock's previous book, Stay Awhile and Listen, is one of the reasons why Gollop agreed to work with the author on this new collaboration. "I thought it was quite an intricate, deep-dive into the inner workings of Blizzard Entertainment," he said in the press release. "I would like to see the [X-COM] book as kind of a historical record of a game that was influential. Hopefully it can provide some inspiration, and also some fascination for how things were done in the early days of the games industry. And in some cases, how badly things were done as well."

This will be publisher DM Press' next book with Craddock, following the success of Stay Awhile and Listen.

Nothing concrete planned in the print sector just yet, although I may have some news on that front. In the meantime, you won't need a dedicated ereader to read XCF. You can use a phone, a tablet, or a computer.

X-COM: UFO Defense is one of most favorite games of all time. I really feel that it's a timeless classic, like Super Mario Bros and DOOM. And SAAL was a great in-depth work covering really all aspects that I was hoping to see covered. Backstory, inside baseball, interesting personal and historical tidbits.

And now you're doing the same thing, but for UFOD? I say again: HOLY FUCKING SHIT. I'm stoked!

I feel Chaos holds up better than Laser Squad. X-COM is a more refined version of Laser Squad, with economy management throw in. I do believe there are Flash versions of both floating around, so you can take them both for a spin.

Wow, I'm so jealous that you get to work with Julian Gollop! This is incredible. I hope you get to ask him a lot of questions and perhaps some about X-COM Genesis so we can get some insider details about that game also! Congrats, this will be a definite read!